The following letter was in the March '52 edition of the Texas Osteopathic Physicians Journal. It is very delicately worded. But make no mistake. The gist of the letter is that a lot of Osteopaths were only interested in how much money they could wring out of patients and insurance companies alike.

Dear Dr. Gafney:I herewith acknowledge your favor of January 29th relative to the creationof committee on industry and insuranceand am further glad to notethat you are selected or appointed aschairman of such a committee.A mental review of our past relationshipwith Osteopathic Physicians andSurgeons and Osteopathic Hospitals indicatesto me that such a committeefor the purposes and intent indicatedis highly necessary, in that, we haveexperienced from time to time someunsatisfactory relationships with variousOsteopathic Hospitals as to billingpractices and with individual OsteopathicSurgeons who have made a widedeparture from accepted standards ofOsteopathic medical background, as tothe inception, duration, and causitivefactor requiring hospitalization of ourpolicyholders. Do not misunderstandme in making this statement, as wefind that M.D.s in a great many instancesdeserve the same criticism andindividuals in the profession demonstratean arrogance that, if nothing else,puts severe strain upon the relationshipbetween the professions, Osteopathicand Medical Doctor, that definitelyshould not exist.I have personally watched the developmentof Osteopathic institutions,and the broadening of Osteopathic techniques over the past few years intofields of practice and surgery for manyyears reserved to the Medical Doctor,and I feel that this development wasoccasioned, to a large degree, on thefailure of the M.D. to function at aproper level and it would seem thatthe Osteopathic group has certainlyrealized the needs of the public and hasmet the challenge. I believe that youmust realize that many of the insurancecompanies offering hospitalization typeinsurance realized that this was true intheir decisions to include Osteopath andOsteopathic institutions in the participationof benefits under their policies,instead of the restricting of same totreatment by M.D.s. Certainly, thisrealization should tend to create a relationshipbetween Osteopathic institutionsand individual Osteopathic physiciansand surgeons wherein the industrycould feel that such recognition on theirpart of the development of the Osteopathicpractitioners would justify its actionsand in most instances, I feel thatsame has been justified.However, as pointed out above, generallysome isolated Osteopathic institutionsare apparently bent upon "killingthe goose that laid the golden egg",so to speak, and has caused a great dealof discussion among the many companiescomprising the industry as relatedto your group.It occurs to me that the Osteopathicphysicians and surgeons are filling agreat need for medical services, especiallyin the smaller communities and as anincident thereto, it appears that the Osteopathicinstitutions and the individualOsteopathic physicians and surgeons aremore insurance conscious than necessary,and in manv instances are not givingto us the information available to themrelative to individual claim, to whichwe are entitled, or which would causea rejection of the individual claim bythe Company. We can readily understandthe general disposition of the individualto assist the people that heknows in the small communities, or inthe larger communities for that matter,but I think that such individuals shouldhave brought to their early attentionthe fact that in the long run they willreceive more benefit and our policyholdersand their patients will receive morebenefit should such institutions and individualswork closer with the insurancecompany, that when claims are presentedthe insurance company, said companywill be able to quickly evaluatethe merits of a claim and handle samein accordance with its policy provisions,without having members of its Claim Department to develop prejudicesagainst Osteopathic institutions and Osteopathicphysicians and surgeons, basedupon unsatisfactory situations in thememory of the Claim Department memberand which occasions doubt in theminds of the Claim Department as toauthenticity of any claim originatingfrom such individual source. Speakinggenerally, but having in mind a fewinstances of the sort, I might point outthat one of the most trying incidentsis where from the reports as submitted,a claim clearly does not fall within theprovince of the policy and is rejected,following which the Claim Departmentreceives an entirely different picture byletter of the situation which causes confusionin the mind of the claimant, andplaces the reporting physician in a classwith any company's Claim Departmentas being unreliable and considered asbeing subjected to pressure or is interestedfrom financial stand point to theextent of such change of diagnosis,treatment, surgery, etc. This, it appearsto me, should be eliminated and wewish to assure you that this Companywill bring such matters in the future toyour direct attention.Our final thought in the matter isto the effect that if Osteopathic physiciansand surgeons are qualified physiciansand surgeons, and if Osteopathicinstitutions are kept and set up for thepurpose of rendering necessary hospitalizationto persons suffering with abnormalconditions, then such individualsoperating such institutions and performingas Osteopathic physicians and surgeonsshould definitely be able to givethe insurance companies an unvarnished,factual and intelligent statement of thefactors involved in support of the claim,and place such facts in the hands of theinsurance claim departments, because inits final analysis, the only thing that theclaim department wants is the factsabout the claim, its inception and thenecessary procedures employed to correctsame.

The same journal has a number of ads for Osteopaths. Philben's ad clearly states "practice LIMITED to pediatrics". However, whether or nit he was a "qualified" Osteopath of Pediatrics in 1945 is not clear cut since he may have been in Philadelphia at that time completing his residency requirements.

_________________Mixing Pop and Politics he asks me what the use isI offer him embarrassment and my usual excusesWhile looking down the corridorOut to where the van is waitingI'm looking for the Great Leap Forward Billy Bragg-----------------------------Australians don't mind criminals: It's successful bullshit artists we despise. Lachie Hulme -----------------------------The Cold War ran on bullshit. Me